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“Mystery Man” Sends Purported “4G” iPhone 5 Photo to the iPhone 5

A "mystery man" sent this photo to the iPhone 5 News Blog, claiming it to be an early 4G iPhone 5 prototype.

As a rule, the iPhone 5 News Blog casts a cynical eye at all purportedly leaked photos of iPhone 5 components, prototypes, and cases, for the simple reason that, in lieu of an intoxicated Apple engineer leaving a prototype in a bar, Cupertino’s Worldwide Loyalty Team does a pretty crackerjack job of keeping the new iPhone under wraps until Mr. Jobs decides to walk it out onto stage for all of us to see.
That being said, a “mystery man” sent me this beautiful photo of what he claims to be an early 4G iPhone 5 prototype. The e-mail reads as follows:
“4G iPhone 5, early prototype.”
I thoroughly searched through Google’s image search to find a match for this photo, but to no avail. However, iPhone 5 News Blog readers have pointed out that the photo also surfaced as early as February of 2011 on GetGek.com.
What I do find interesting, however, is its relative similarity in form factor to a late-breaking article from SlashGear today that presents a “fake” iPhone 5 that was allegedly retro-engineered from the real specs. The rear of the SlashGear prototype bears some similarities of the mystery man’s photo, but the front side screen is remarkably different, featuring a wide, near-edge-to-edge screen and re-worked home button. And the form factor indeed takes its cue from the more curvy 3Gs than the boxier iPhone 4, as we have heard reported recently.
But what may be the most provocative feature revealed in this purported sighting of the iPhone 5 is something that isn’t even visible in the photo: 4G.
It is certainly easy to claim “4G,” but a picture is worth a thousand words, and the picture itself cannot prove or disprove 4G on the iPhone 5 any more than it can prove to be an authentic photo.
Still, it stands as one of the more impressive images we’ve had of the iPhone 5 thus far.